Microsoft Authenticator Cloud Backup only restore 2 accounts rest of them are not getting restored

Question

I am having a major issue with the Microsoft Authenticator app's Cloud Backup and Restore feature.

When I tried to migrate my accounts to a new phone, the restore process only recovered two accounts. Many of my other important accounts were not restored, including those for GitHub, Microsoft, and Oracle.

Because of this, I am now forced to keep and use my old phone solely for authentication purposes, which is very frustrating. Has anyone experienced this and found a solution? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @Kokul Jose 

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Cloud backup in Microsoft Authenticator helps transfer your account list to a new device, but it does not fully restore your multi-factor authentication (MFA) settings. For security reasons, you'll need to manually reconfigure MFA for each account. We understand this can be inconvenient, but it's a necessary step to keep your accounts secure.

You can read more at Back up your accounts in Microsoft Authenticator - Microsoft Support. 

Here are some steps you may try:
1.On your new phone, download Microsoft Authenticator application.  
2.Sign in with the same Microsoft account you used before.  
3.When prompted, restore from the Cloud backup and follow the on-screen instructions.  

After restoring, visit the My Sign-Ins | Security Info page to manage your verification methods. You may need to remove and re-add your current MFA options to ensure everything is working correctly.  

Some third-party accounts may not sync due to platform limitations. In these cases, you’ll need to manually re-add them: 

-Sign in to each service’s security or 2FA/MFA settings via their website.  
-Re-scan the QR code or re-link the Authenticator app on your new phone, using the old phone as the current valid device to generate codes.

We’re not able to provide platform-specific instructions for every service, but these general steps should help guide you through the process. While it may take some time, this manual setup is often the only way to fully restore access when automatic recovery doesn’t cover everything. 

I hope this helps.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".   

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.